WASHINGTON (WOWO): Pending the results of any legal challenges from the Trump campaign, Democrat and former Vice President Joe Biden has secured enough electoral votes to become the next President of the United States, according to NPR and according to NBC.

The contentious election, made more complicated by record numbers of mail-in ballots due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, has seen President Donald Trump’s leads in several states slip away or be reversed as the extra ballots – which could not be counted in many states until after the polls closed, per election law – were counted. The majority of mail-in ballots seemed to go to Biden; Trump had discouraged his followers from using mail-in voting, saying it was vulnerable to fraud.

Biden addressed the nation Friday night, before officially passing the 270 mark by securing the electors from Pennsylvania, to call for unity moving forward.

“We may be opponents, but we’re not enemies,” Biden said to the nation. “We’re Americans.”

As the counting dragged on for days in multiple battleground states, Trump took to the airwaves to declare the election was being “stolen” by “illegal” votes. Some Republicans distanced themselves from his comments.

I easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with LEGAL VOTES CAST. The OBSERVERS were not allowed, in any way, shape, or form, to do their job and therefore, votes accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES. U.S. Supreme Court should decide!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2020

The President has also issued a series of legal challenges, with more expected, saying there were issues with poll watchers and the counting of ballots that Trump and his supporters say were cast illegally.

Locally, Trump easily won Indiana and Ohio in Tuesday’s General Election.

Should Biden’s victory stand up to Trump’s legal challenges, he will become the 46th President of the United States, while California Senator Kamala Harris will become both the nation’s first Black Vice President and its first female Vice President.